The invention relates to a method for characterizing a liquid transport of a transparent liquid in a microfluidic structure, wherein the transparent liquid forms a meniscus that separates an unfilled section from a section of the microfluidic structure that is filled with the transparent liquid, and wherein light from surroundings of the meniscus is captured and measured for the purposes of ascertaining a measured variable that correlates with a fill level of the transparent liquid reached by the meniscus.
The invention further relates to a liquid transport characterization apparatus.
The invention finally relates to a substrate material having a microfluidic structure.
The transportation of liquids in microfluidic structures is known. Here, it is often of interest to characterize the flow behavior or the transport of the liquid. Different methods have been proposed which, essentially, provide the capture of the change in an optical light beam that is radiated into the liquid, with the creation or disappearance of total-internal reflection being monitored.